The Liberal Democrats released an analysis this week (February 19) on the “experiences of NHS healthcare services in England”, revealing “an estimated 382,000 adults between December 10 and January 1 visited their GP or an urgent service due to their usual pharmacy being unable to fill their NHS prescription”
Read more: Change legislation so pharmacists can amend prescriptions, says RPS
Using an Office for National Statistics (ONS) dataset, it said a further 269,000 “did not take any further action” after discovering they were “unable to get a prescription dispensed at their usual pharmacy in that period”, it added.
The analysis revealed that 426,000 people had to go to “multiple pharmacies to get their prescriptions with 336,000 – more than one in ten people who had an issue – waiting more than a week to resolve their problem”, it said.
“Dissatisfied”
In that period, “an estimated 853,000 people were left dissatisfied with the most recent NHS service they had received at a pharmacy”, the analysis found.
“Medicines purchasing costs are one of the biggest drivers for cost increase for pharmacies, many of which are already struggling to keep the doors open,” the Lib Dems said.
And citing National Pharmacy Association (NPA) analysis, it added that “87% of council areas have seen one or more pharmacies close in their area in just the last two years”.
Read more: A third of patients fail to get prescriptions filled, Pharmacy2U finds
The Lib Dems also referred to the supply issues of ADHD medication last year, noting that the shortages had forced “some students [to ration] their medication in the lead up to their exams to ensure that their prescription lasted across the exam season”.
“The situation across the health service is devastating,” the party said, and it called on the government “to take steps to ensure that patients can access prescriptions when they need them and to protect pharmacies from closure”.
“Devastating consequences”
Liberal Democrat hospitals and primary care spokesperson MP Jess Brown-Fuller said that “everywhere you turn our frontline health services are at a breaking point with devastating consequences for patients”.
“We have heard from countless people who are struggling to access their prescriptions when they need them... [with some] even going without the medicine they need to get through their daily lives,” she said.
Read more: Shortage warnings: ADHD, opioid dependence and period delay drugs
“All this piles pressure on our hospitals and primary care services that are already at the brink,” she added.
“The Conservative Party’s shameful neglect has punished patients in this way, but the Labour government’s total lack of urgency has been inexcusable,” Brown-Fuller said.
“It is not good enough for the government to sit back and watch as people can’t access the medicines they need”.
Read more: Pharmacists altering prescriptions could ‘exacerbate’ shortages, says minister
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats called for an expansion of pharmacy “community-based care” and “ambitious change” to NHS policy at its annual conference in September.
And in June, party leader Ed Davey promised more prescribing rights for pharmacists as well as “fairer and more sustainable funding” when launching the Liberal Democrats election manifesto.
